World's oldest man dies

Family members found him dead in his futon sleeping mattress on Sunday evening, the officials on the southern island of Kyushu said.

Born on March 23, 1889, Chuganji worked as a silkworm breeder and bank employee after leaving school. He also served as a community welfare officer.

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He had been in good health, talking daily with his daughter's family with whom he lived, but had not ventured from his bed very often in recent years and had poor eyesight.

With Chuganji's death, Kameni Nakamura becomes Japan's oldest man at 108. It was not immediately known whether he had inherited the mantle of world's oldest man.

Japan boasts the world's longest life expectancy -- 78 years for men and 80 for women -- and the oldest living person is Kamato Hongo, a 116-year-old Japanese woman who also lives on Kyushu.